8ook:Bii-25__ 



\ 



A 



DISCOURSE 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



AUTUMNAL UNITARIAN CONVENTION, 



HELD AT 



SALEM, MASS., 



WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 20, 1847. 



BY GEORGE W. BRIGGS, 

JUNIOR MINISTEK OF THE FIKST CHUBCH IN PLYMOUTI/, MASS. 



BOSTON: 
BENJAMIN H. GREENE, 
124 Washington Street. 

1 847, 



A 



DISCOURSE 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



AUTUMNAL UNITARIAN CONVENTION, 



HELD AT 



SALEM, MASS., 



WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 20, 1847. 



BY GEORGE W. BRIGGS, 

JUSIOB MINISTBE OF THE FIKST CHUECH IS PLTMOUTH, MASS. 



BOSTON: 
BENJAMIN H. GREENE, 
124 "Washinoton Street. 

1 847. 



In E2cba.ug« 
Bn. of Ball-v^ay SooxmzxUc* 



COOLIDGE & TFllET, PeESTEES, 

12 Water Street, Boston. 



In the delivery of this Discourse, some things were introduced extempo- 
raneously, and a few passages slightly changed from the original manuscript, 
in consequence of the direction of the discussions at the previous meetings of 
the Convention. The author has faithfully endeavoured to present it as it was 
spoken, with slight verbal alterations. He cannot hope, however, to revive the 
feeling of the hour, awakened by eloquent addresses from many of his brethren. 
He can only commend the Discourse, therefore, to the forbearing judgment of 
those who desired its publication, in the hope, that, at least, it may serve as a 
slight memorial of one of our most pleasant Autumnal gatherings. 

Pltmouth, Mass., Oct. 23, 1847. - 



DISCOURSE. 



Luke XII: 32. 

Fear not, little flock ; for it is tour Father's good 
pleasure to give you the kingdom. 

" Fear not," said Jesus ; — thus telling us in the 
first word of the text, amidst what visions of danger, 
and difficulty, and death, its promise was uttered. 
Not one opposing influence in human nature or 
in human passion, not one possibility of suffering 
for his sake, was forgotten then. What method 
of spiritual victory did Jesus see at that moment, 
when the shadow of his own cross already dark- 
ened his path, when the persecutions, the stake, 
the crowns of thorns, the cross, awaiting his fol- 
lowers, too, passed before his view? What were 
those elements of unequalled power in his teach- 
ing, which made him announce so serenely then, 
its universal triumph ? 

And the problem which these questions suggest 
presents a greater difficulty, when we remember 
how vast a work that triumph is. Consider what 
a boundless variety of mental conditions, of spirit- 



6 



ual experiences, the same truth must meet, to gam 
its victory. What diversities of thought and Hfe 
Jesus actually addressed in his ministry. Men of 
differing speculations were there, — the Sadducee, 
with his unbelief ; the Pharisee, with his supersti- 
tion and his hypocrisy; the Jew, the Samaritan, 
the Greek, with their varied culture. Men of all 
forms of character were there, — the lowly seekers 
for truth, and the traitors to man and God ; the 
ceaseless worshippers in the temple, and the shame- 
less prodigals, whom none but Jesus pitied, or sought 
to bless. In one word, the human heart was there, 
— the same in its deeper nature, the same, too, in 
the unhmited variety of its special experience, as 
you may see it in every age ; — in its differing 
passions, in its varied and secret griefs, presenting 
types of all forms of life to be met, when the Gospel 
should spread over wide regions, and address men 
of jarring tongues. Yet, from all these diversities 
of character, sincere disciples were gathered. And 
the same teaching, whether obeyed or trampled 
down, asserted its supremacy in the secrecy of 
every breast, till men sought to crush what they 
could not bear to meet. What is that teaching 
which is to go beneath all differences in man's 
pliilosophy, or his experience, into the secret places 
of the soul, into the awful depths of the conscience, 
as when it fell from the lips of Jesus, judging those 
whom it doth not save, establishing, at last, a uni- 
versal throne ? 

The question presents, at first, another difficulty 



7 



still, when we notice the way in which Jesus un- 
folded his doctrine, and observe how it differs from 
man's usual endeavours to reform the thought, or 
ennoble the life, of the world. Two general, spirit- 
ual conditions, he strives continually to meet ; the 
false doctrine clouding the mind, the sin debasing 
the soul. In how different a manner from that of 
other teachers, he addresses both of these conditions. 
Nay, how varied his own manner appears, in our 
first impression of his teaching, when he addresses 
the one or the other. Error he does not directly 
assail. He does not directly touch the false phi- 
losophies which he desires to banish from human 
thought for ever. He does not oppose one elabo- 
rated system to another, to destroy theological errors 
in the strife of controversy. Where he contrasts 
truth and error, and seems to approach the methods 
of other minds, he simply leads to universal prin- 
ciples, which belong to no system, which dwell in 
the deep places of all human experience, which 
are proved by their own hght, and, like the eternal 
stars, send down their beams to all who look up 
to receive their instruction. The Samaritan woman 
asked whether Jerusalem or Gerizim were the holy 
place. Jesus simply announced a divine idea of 
worship, that was its own proof, and that instantly 
raised her mind to a thought in which that contro- 
versy was lost from view. The Scribe, as he heard 
the great commandment, asked — "And who is 
my neighbour? " Jesus sent him down into his 
own soul, and drew forth thence a subhme doc- 



8 



trine, that answers all such questions in all ages ; 
that echoes in your bosoms to-day, as its judgment 
pealed through his conscience then. Error, he 
meets indirectly ; but sin he directly assails, mak- 
ing his precise discriminations, as he speaks to the 
very passions in his presence, as clear and distinct 
as the dread sentences of the coming judgment. 
Yet, look a little more deeply, and this apparent 
difference is seen to be only a varied manifestation 
of the same method. Error was the fruit of a 
spiritual condition not awakened to a conscious- 
ness of more comprehensive truths. These truths 
must first be stated, to raise the mind to a position 
whence it could look beyond its old mistakes. Sin 
was a violation of principles, never before so 
piercingly expounded, yet old as the heart of man, 
and speaking for ever in the conscience. And 
there it was enough to point to the law already 
inscribed upon the soul as in letters of fire. In 
both cases, with the error and the sin, the single 
purpose was to bring the soul into immediate con- 
tact with deepest spiritual truth. We should not 
have dreamed of a mode of teaching so unsys- 
tematic, according to our general use of that word. 
We should not have dreamed of meeting the false 
speculations of the world by never directly meeting 
them ; of simply bringing men face to face with 
truth, in the hope that all the errors of human 
opinion should thus be scattered, and the world, 
which seemed so full of the passions of hell, should 
bow at length to the spirit, and be robed in the 



9 



garments of heaven. But thus Jesus taught. And 
the gathered, breathless multitudes, the self-re- 
nouncing disciples at his side, the penitents, weep- 
ing their sins away at his feet, nay, the crucifixion 
itself — all prove the mighty power of his teaching. 

And here is the secret of his power. Errors 
began to depart when he spoke, because he led 
the mind instantly to a higher truth, before which 
they vanished like the night before the sun. Sin 
trembled, or repented, because he brought all its 
varied forms into the immediate presence of the 
uncompromising law of the conscience. The 
method of Jesus, brethren, is divine, like the doc- 
trine from his lips. Both came out of heaven. 
And whoever will do any thing to-day, which shall 
have power to reform the opinions, or Christianize 
the life of the world, must pursue the Master's 
method, while he repeats his word. And herein 
is the pertinency of my theme to the occasion. It 
would be more interesting to me, to attempt to 
expound some great Christian doctrine to the con- 
science, than to speak of what seems to relate to 
modes of action. For, the only proper aim of all 
moral pleadings is to bring deeper spiritual truths 
into the secret soul, and to fill it with a thrilling 
awe and joy at their presence. Yet, though the 
aspects of the time suggest a different course of 
thoiight, we will not forget this nobler purpose for 
a moment. More fitting it would be for me to 
Msten than to speak; and more grateful, far, to 
unfold opinions in harmony, in all respects, with 



10 



the convictions of other men. Yet, bear with the 
lowly confidence which attempts to show how 
you, or I, or any man, can alone meet the call 
of any time, and especially of this time, in the 
two particulars to which I have referred. Let 
me say once more, I am not designing to touch 
the question whether we shall work together or 
alone, — whatever bearing some of the views in 
this discourse may appear to have. That ques- 
tion, to me, is answered in a single word. Men's 
hearts will be welded, ay, wedded together in a 
marriage bond, when they are filled Avith love for 
common truths and common aims. What God 
hath joined together, man cannot put asunder. 
And all other unions shall break in pieces, al- 
though we may attempt to secure them by clamps 
of steel. Let me apply the method of Jesus, there- 
fore, to the call of this hour. 

First, let us turn to all endeavours to correct the 
false opinions of the world. Jesus obeyed the true 
philosophy of all mental progress, in leaving the 
speculations of his time, in so great a degree, un- 
assailed, and making his appeal to higher, eternal 
truths ; those truths, which, once perceived, must 
lead men to views above the very questions that 
perplexed and separated them. It is a universal 
principle, in respect to spiritual truths, that there is 
no real deliverance from the errors in our thought, 
except in the divine progress of our whole being. 
There is no remedy for a narrow view, except in 
the attainment of a more comprehensive truth. 



11 



Go from the valleys where lofty heights, piercing 
the clouds, tower up before your eyes, and stand 
upon the eternal hills, where boundless prospects 
greet you. It is by a new revelation of truth, that 
what is imperfect is done away. Look into thine 
own experience, my brother, and read one illustra- 
tion of the principle which is written there. What 
has changed the idea of God, as it was cherished 
in thy infant weakness, into the grander concep- 
tion present now? — a conception, unspeakably 
low, indeed, yet as much more majestic than the 
view of the child, as the open vision of the angel 
is nobler than the faith that rejoices thee to-day. 
No direct assaults of argument drove that infant 
thought away. Love stirred within thee, bringing 
a power to gain a more divine conception of an 
infinite love. Conscience spoke, presenting awful 
images of an eternal, inflexible justice. In this 
general progress of the fife, — mind, heart, imagi- 
nation became capable of grander thought. The 
divine annunciations of Jesus opened their deeper 
meanings to the advancing soul. And lo ! long 
ago, the childish error was outgrown, and the soul 
has advanced, perhaps, far beyond many opinions 
once bhnding the world, and ascended towards 
some worthy views of the Infinite Father. Yes, 
and what shall carry the mind still onward beyond 
aU these narrow and partial conceptions of the 
Divine Government and the Divine Mercy, which, 
like the partial views of childhood, still cloud the 
understandings of men? What, but the same 



12 



grand development of the soul into a broader love 
and a more comprehensive faith ? What, but new 
and fresh breathings of the Divine Spirit ? " For 
the Spirit seareheth all things, yea, the deep things 
of God." 

Some men trust to the power of controversy, to 
dispel the errors of religious thought. We will 
not stop to ask precisely how much may be thus 
accomplished. But we say, we must have some- 
thhig that goes far deeper than controversy gener- 
ally proposes to go, before we can secure any 
radical change. These opinions which we cherish 
concerning the Father and his purposes, these 
views of religious doctrine, are not superficial 
things. They have roots running down into the 
heart's lowest depths. They have an organic con- 
nection with the whole of life. Do you not see, 
in numberless particulars, that beneath all that 
your arguments can touch, there are certain per- 
suasions of feeling, certain ways of thinking, cer- 
tain attitudes of the soul, which render useless all 
appeals, though fashioned by all the logical skill 
that any human intellect can exert. Go to the 
skeptical heart, that doubts not the narrow dogma 
of some narrow church alone, but, concerning 
God and immortality, spiritual truth and the eter- 
nal world, — and how often will you assail it in 
vain by all your appeals to the understanding. 
Awaken some profound, unfathomable, spiritual 
want in the soul ; lead a man to the grave where 
he feels the measureless depth of the heart's capac- 



13 



ity of affection ; bring him upon his bended knee 
in prayer, when he must pray or perish ; call forth 
a new, living stream from these deep wells of feel- 
ing, — and that fresh gush of life will bear all his 
unbelief away. Man may seem to attain a noble 
life without rehgious faith. He may become great 
in intellectual power; great, in his varied learning. 
But a living soul, awakened to see its wants, alive 
to its spiritual sensibihties, can no more turn away 
from God than the child from the mother's breast. 
And the same law is verified in respect to any 
special rehgious thought. Thus it is with what I 
deem the right view in regard to our dependence 
upon the revelations of the Father. Let me pro- 
foundly feel my faUibihty, let me reahze how in- 
evitably sin must cloud the understanding, and 
hide the face of God, and how clearly do I see the 
necessity of a hght from above, to illuminate my 
beclouded spirit. I wait for revelations then. The 
eye of the soul is darkened. And how plainly I 
perceive the need of a divine physician to give me 
sight. The word Saviour has a glorious meaning. 
The term Master covers a charming thought. I 
sit at the Master's feet to learn of him. Such a 
faith cannot exist, until we stand in that attitude 
of lowliness — that sense of falhbility. But then 
it will be borne in upon the soul by the rushing 
tide of feeling, to become the abiding law of its 
inward life. These controversies, brethren, seldom 
go deep enough to do their work. Not in any as- 
sumption do I say so, yet they often seem to me 



14 



like the strivings of children, respecting their own 
childish thought. Let them prostrate themselves 
in prayer, for the understanding which can make 
them men. There are truths which concern the 
intellect alone. These, controversies may estabhsh 
or overthrow. But religious truths belong prima- 
rily to the moral nature. The understanding may 
arrange them, and embody them into systematic 
statements, to be held up before the soul to deepen 
the Mfe whence they came. Yet, only as the moral 
nature Hves, can their light dawn upon us, or ap- 
pear in an increasing brightness. I see how it 
comes. Let the spirit of the Lord enter into my 
secret soul in a new power of love, bringing that 
new birth of which Jesus speaks, and in that re- 
generation I begin to see God and truth, life and 
destiny, the soul and the eternal world, as they 
appeared to the mind of Jesus. Out of these 
deeps, where thoughts are born, a divine faith 
comes to bless me with its pure and perfect light 

Nay, brethren, shall I tell you the whole of my 
thought ? These controversies may do something, 
as all things do, in the overrulings of God. I will 
not have any controversy even concerning the 
propriety of controversy itself But I beheve there 
is always a diviner method. We stand in the 
midst of numberless sects, and clashing opinions, 
longing to spread a purer rehgious light. Only so 
much the more are we to seek to penetrate those 
universal principles which belong to no system, 
but are the life of all systems ; those principles 



15 



which formed the substance of the word of Jesus, 
and to which men of all philosophies, and all sects, 
must listen in reverence. It is by a higher truth 
that men are attracted from what is low. That 
law reigns everywhere. You dissolve the mineral 
by a higher attraction. "What you could not affect 
before, instantly rushes into new combinations 
then. The heart is raised above its passion by 
wedding it to a higher love. The proper work of 
the Theologian to-day, is not to defend, or attack, 
varying systems of faith. It is to extract from 
them the theology of the redeemed heart, which 
must meet a response wherever spiritual hfe exists ; 
to separate the divine from the human, until, in 
the truly spiritual sense, he preaches only Christ 
and his Cross. I care very Httle to speak of the 
philosophy of the mode of God's existence. Men 
may be Unitarian or Trinitarian in that respect, 
and never know the Father. Let us endeavour to 
unfold the simple, awful, enrapturing idea of God, 
enhghtening the world by his presence, encirchng 
all souls with his love, beginning now to call us to 
judgment in the whispers of the conscience. Let 
us unfold this thought, which is the life and assur- 
ance of all prayer ; the melting appeal to sinning, 
prodigal hearts ; the eternal refuge of the trusting 
spirit. Let us proclaim this doctrine, which is as 
a sun of Ught ; not only illuminating the heavens 
and unsealing many mysteries of Providence, but 
reveaUng the whole sum of human duty also ; tell- 
ing us that the child must possess the parent's life, 



16 



and pour out benedictions upon the world, as they 
flow down to himself for ever. What heights and 
depths of spiritual knowledge shall then be re- 
vealed ! I have little desire to speak concerning 
the philosophy of the doctrine of Regeneration. 
Let us declare the great doctrine itself, so solemnly 
attested in every man's consciousness when he 
sees the yawning gulf between duty and desire, 
and feels the necessity of a creative power within 
his heart, to raise him above all his sin. Let us 
enforce this single truth, which calls him to imme- 
diate repentance, and opens, in that experience, 
the blest assurance of forgiveness and peace. 
Proclaim these and kindred doctrines, bring the 
soul into their presence, and false speculations 
shall be outgrown, or fall into insignificance. Do 
not say that we must break down the error before 
the truth can be seen. The truth is the agency to 
destroy the error. Why should we stop to contend 
about the mistakes in this chaos of opinion ? Let 
the Spirit of God move over the deep, and the 
chaos is gone. It may well humble us, my breth- 
ren, to think what it is needful to do to bring the 
human heart into the presence of the eternal, all- 
enlightening truth. This can only be accom- 
phshed when we become the echo of the Spirit. 
That Spirit's silent voice we do not hear, amid the 
clashings of controversy. We lose sight of this 
pure hght in the smoke of theological battles. We 
must retire into the silence of meditation, where it 
may stream through the soul with no single ray 



17 



darkened by our vain speculations, or bent from 
its course. O then, when the voice of eternal 
truth is heard speaking through human lips, bap- 
tizing them with the Holy Ghost and with fire, 
men shall feel the immediate presence of the Uving 
God, and the new Ufe in the soul shall bring the 
day of Pentecost, with all its light and power. 
Who is worthy of an apostleship so divine ? 

But I must leave this part of my theme without 
further discussion, to consider the second point I 
have proposed. What is the method of Jesus for 
the regeneration of the life ? What is the true ele- 
ment of power to overcome the sin of all ages — 
the sin of to-day ? And the answer is the same. 
We must bring the heart into immediate contact 
with the eternal truth. Yet here the work is sim- 
pler far. Here we are not compelled to proclaim 
new principles to the soul. We are only to draw 
forth the eternal teachings of the conscience; to 
reveal those lights of moral truth which burn for 
ever in the centre of our being. 

Many are disposed to question the theory that 
demands a direct appHcation of truth to the precise 
sins of the individual and the age. I answer that 
questioning, first, by referring to the teaching of 
the Son of God. Bring before you the circum- 
stances, the prevaihng passions of the time, and 
I ask for the first word in his teaching w^hich is 
stated abstractly, with no positive, direct, most 
pointed reference to the sin of the man, or the 
multitude, whom he addressed. Indeed, his doc- 
2 



18 



trines are only to be gathered from these searching 
apphcations of truth to the conscience. He begins 
with the special sin, and leads you on to the uni- 
versal principle which it violates, and the everlast- 
ing law is drawn out from the self-accusing, the 
self-judging soul. The more carefully I examine 
the record of the Saviour's ministry, the more 
clearly I see that it is one constant, ever- varied ap- 
plication of the truth to men's special, controlling 
sins. He probes the wound in every word he 
utters. How he deals with the consciences of the 
worldly, the timid, the self-seeking, the hypocrites, 
of his day! As I imagine their character, and 
listen to his teaching, I feel that every word must 
have been like a sword piercing through their 
spirit. Jesus spoke to the needs and sins of his 
time, as the individual man, or the multitude, 
came into his presence. He who would speak 
like Jesus, must address the sins of his own 
time in the same direct and discriminating apph- 
cation. The question of the propriety, nay, of the 
necessity, of unfolding the great Christian doctrines 
in regard to the prevaiHng Hfe of each successive 
generation, to the sins of the individual and of the 
age, is answered for ever by this appeal. Indeed, 
brethren, we renounce the method of Jesus if we 
fail in this. 

But I answer this question, again, by the testi- 
mony of every man's consciousness ; aye, by the 
consciousness of him who asks the question. 
When is the truth powerful in your spirit ? When 



19 



does it fail to have any power, unless when it 
fails to touch your inward need, your actual feel- 
ing, or to lead to any solemn judgment of the 
conscience? Truth as an abstraction, may do 
absolutely nothing, even though it be the sublime 
doctrine once upon the lips of Jesus. But truth 
in distinct application to the hving world, is clothed 
with the Father's omnipotence. The one thing 
which human nature can never bear, is the naked, 
piercing sense of guilt, which such an unfolding 
of truth must bring. How all the self-delusions 
into which we rush to escape the edge of keen 
rebuke, are ever proving that ! Some kind of 
peace must be made with the conscience, or there 
will seem to be no drop of water to cool our burn- 
ing tongue. The condemned at the judgment are 
represented as offering palliations for their sin. 
We have too deep a sense of right within us, we 
are too closely allied to God, in this respect, to 
permit this naked conviction of guilt to be borne. 
We call upon the rocks and the mountains to 
cover us. The pangs of retribution are the con- 
demnations that come through the perfect mani- 
festation of the truth. And shall I confess, that 
the hope of bright issues from God's retributions 
has sometimes dawned upon me from the very 
conception of the intolerable woe which must fill 
the soul, when it shall be brought to feel the un- 
quenched flame of its self-reproach. O ! brethren, 
we know not how to penetrate this maze of human 
motives ; to reach the recesses of the human heart, 



20 



and bring the inward life into the direct presence 
of the eternal law. But, whoever has once done 
that work for another soul, much more, we say, 
whoever has once felt the truth thus piercing his 
own spirit, knows that here is the secret of its 
power. 

Indeed, why is the call of religion so ineffectual 
to control the life of the world ? Why do tower- 
ing sins overshadow human society ? overshadow 
the Church of God ? Why do they demand bap- 
tism at her altars, or else defy her power? Why 
do men, in entire spheres of their action, openly 
cast off the restraints of the Christian law ; enter- 
ing the pursuits of business, or the forums of politi- 
cal action, to do what selfish and low expediencies 
prompt, as if the unchanging truth of Jesus had 
never found utterance in the world? Sometimes 
I hear it said, that the perplexing dogmas of man's 
device have confounded all human reason, and 
unsettled men's general faith, and driven multi- 
tudes away from devoted discipleship into scoffing, 
or practical unbelief I do not deny that influence. 
I have felt something of its power. But do we 
need to be told, to-day, that many fall into the 
same disregard of Christian truths, even where 
the most rational doctrines are presented? It is 
the doctrine unapplied to life which is vain, though 
it be rational as reason itself It was rehgion in- 
carnate in its beauty in Jesus, giving shining proof 
of the reahty of holiness, rebuking all subserviency 
to passion or the world, condemning all paltering 



21 



with conscience, judging, inspiring men, by its 
serene and spotless purity — that gave the first 
impulse to the great moral revolution which he 
came to accomphsh. That revolution can only be 
carried onward by the same power that gave it 
birth. The perils of false doctrine may thus be 
escaped. Let me see Religion moving among 
men with the broad charity of the Redeemer upon 
its brow, pure from conformity to the world's cor- 
ruptions, uttering its unfailing protest against pri- 
vate and public sin, bringing the life and love of 
heaven into the dweUing-places of the earth, and 
you cannot drive me into any real unbelief by any 
conceivable absurdities of theological statement. 
There was power once in the bosom of the Church, 
in the days when men came out from all worldly 
conformity, taking up the cross to follow Jesus, in 
uncompromising applications of his truth to the 
actual life of the hour. Power was there, when 
the disciples instantly deserted the idol shrines ; 
when the cry came up continually — "I am a 
Christian, and cannot fight," — in distinct rebuke 
of the almost universal spirit of war. Opposition 
was not at once subdued, we know. The disciples 
built their own cross by their fidelity. But that 
was one proof of their power. In her proud toler- 
ation, Rome would have adopted Jesus into her 
family of Gods, and protected his doctrine, had it 
not been enforced in such piercing appHcations to 
her religion — inwoven, as it was, with all the cus- 
toms of her life, — and to her idolatrous worship of 
the spirit of war. Christianity shook the world, as 



22 



its disciples then walked the earth in their gar- 
ments of holiness. Men rushed to its dangerous 
confession, converted, subdued by its majesty ; and 
new converts repeated the Saviour's name, as it 
ceased to be heard from those who were martyred 
for his sake. We can have no return of such days 
of power, until we have a similar administration 
of the word of Jesus. 

The direct application of truth, then, to the heart 
of the world — not to its private experience alone, 
nor to its public hfe alone, but to both — in all 
fulness, in all fidelity, is one of the enduring needs 
of men. It is one of our chiefest wants to-day. 
Shall I present two or three illustrations of that 
application, which especially claim our attention 
now ? There is that holy cause of Temperance, 
which is performing miracles of heaUng; proving 
the possibility of reformations from the depths of 
sensuality ; bringing the prodigals from among 
their husks, penitent, redeemed, to their Fathers 
house again. How greatly we need the apphca- 
tion of Christian truth in this respect, until every 
man shall feel his pressing responsibihty to a work 
so divine. How deeply we need this, until all 
men shall rejoice to embrace any form of self- 
denial, rather than throw any shadow of a hin- 
drance in its way ; lest, by any possibility, in the 
influence of their life, they should thrust back the 
returning prodigal into the hell whence he was 
ascending, instead of being as ministering angels 
of redeeming mercy, to bear him home to the 
bosom of his God. 



23 



There is that giant sin of Slavery to be arraigned 
before the love of Jesus, and by the side of his 
Cross, until the conviction of its sinfulness shall 
become as a blazing fire, which only the tears of 
penitence can quench. There it is to be arraigned, 
until men feel that it is one of the most atrocious 
violations of the instincts of humanity, and the law 
of God. Is there no need of this ? Do you think 
— does any man think — that this great oppression 
could have strengthened itself in this land, assum- 
ing new power, grasping the sword to secure its 
dominion and estabHsh its throne, had it been 
ceaselessly assailed by distinct Christian rebuke ? 
Speak the truth respecting it in weeping, as Jesus 
wept over Jerusalem in her sin. But tell that 
truth in the name of the living God. Why should 
the Church have been so silent? For, as in the 
sight of heaven, I affirm my conviction, that this 
silence is the cause why this nation is almost the 
last refuge of Slavery, instead of the true home of 
Freedom. 

Take one other illustration, yet more general in 
its nature. Look not to any special institution 
which Government may uphold, but look at the 
general action of Government itself We call it 
an arrogant claim of the Head of the great Church 
of Christendom, that he requires the homage of 
temporal princes to his supremacy. That claim 
has been arrogantly made, but it was only a per- 
verted statement of a truth wliich the Christian 
Church must never forget. And what do we need 



24 



so much to-day, as the distinct, universal assertion 
of the supremacy of the Christian law in the 
Councils of Governments, and in the policy of 
States? There are many questions for human 
legislation, of course, that relate only to outward 
interests; questions, with which Christian princi- 
ples have nothing directly to do. Let them pass. 
But tell me what invention can frame a reason 
why a pubhc infringement of Christ's truth is not 
to be brought to the tribunal of Jesus, equally with 
any sin between man and man ? When shall the 
clamors of party be everywhere unheeded, and 
the world learn, that public wrongs are never to 
be sheltered from a solemn arraignment by the 
lovers of their race ? When shall the custom of 
war, for instance, be thus faithfully tried ? When 
shall it be clearly shown, that no military organ- 
ization can exist, without tramphng upon the 
responsibility laid upon man by the hand of God, 
and subjecting him to an authority which he must 
be constrained to obey, whether it call him to 
battle in a righteous cause, or summon him to 
murder and destroy, for wicked and atrocious 
ends ? Or, if we are not prepared for that ques- 
tion yet — when shall we hear a universal rebuke 
against such a war as now stains this nation with 
blood ? When shall we have an unfailing Chris- 
tian reproof of a policy which can propose to go 
onward without remorse or mercy, unless its own 
conditions are met, until, by blood and slaughter, 
by woe and death, a nation shall be compelled to 



25 



sue upon its bended knee for peace ? Why do 
we not find this appHcation of Christian truth 
everywhere made to this war of disgrace, to-day, 
— treason though it be termed — until in this 
treason to man, pure as the treason of all the 
martyrs of God, we make repentance and atone- 
ment for the sin ? 

But I forbear from these illustrations. Let me 
notice only one reason against such apphcations 
of truth to public sins, which many men repeat. 
In the anger they may excite, however meek the 
rebukes, the whole power of all Christian plead- 
ings may be endangered, — some will say. I 
reply, that nothing can shake the faith of the 
world so much, as a failure to strive against any 
special sin. If we falter before any single one, 
the very idea of the absolute supremacy of the 
Christian law, in every thing beside, is brought 
into peril. That idea is the rock upon which 
every thing rests. Nay, if these great moral ref- 
ormations had no charm in themselves, I would 
not fail to apply the truth to the sins which they 
seek to remove, lest, by any possibility, this funda- 
mental conviction might be shaken in the heart 
of the world. 

The method of Jesus, brethren, must be un- 
changing, like himself ; and to me there seems to 
be a special call, at this hour, for such an adminis- 
tration of truth as I have endeavoured to describe. 
And let me also say, that this call comes to us, as 
it can scarcely come to any men beside. It pre- 



26 



sents a work which is in perfect harmony with the 
entire theory of our existence as a reUgions denom- 
ination. First, I speak in respect to doctrines. 
The inmost heart of the world is longing at this 
hoar for a Theology that will be a statement of 
universal truths. That is seen in the tendency of 
many of its speculations; in its prayers for religious 
union. Indeed, Avhen I say this I am only saying, 
that in religion also men are yielding to the spirit 
which is moving through all action, all thought 
and life. The inward spirit of men, though not 
always conscious of its want, is praying for state- 
ments of religious doctrine which shall go beneath 
all clashing systems, like the word of Jesus him- 
self This want may be met. Once ascend into 
true spirituality of thought, expressing the deep 
workings of the heart in its profound experience, 
in its penitence, love, reconciliation, peace, and 
you do not speak in any separate language. That 
is the mother-tongue of the human soul, and its 
speech echoes round the world. True literature 
expresses universal sentiments in human nature, 
and thus has a teaching for all ages, as well as for 
a single generation. True rehgious thought must 
be more universal still. At this hour the very 
elements of thought seem to be in solution, only 
waiting for the introduction of this higher truth to 
form new and more beautiful combinations. Al- 
most at once, they would begin to crystalhze into 
gems worthy to be set in the Redeemer's crown. 
No nobler ministry has called men to its service in 



27 



the whole flight of ages. It is not any mere ques- 
tion between sect and sect, that invites us now. 
The controversy between the Catholic and the 
Protestant world is superficial in the comparison. 
We are called to the greater question between the 
narrow, the limited, in any and every form, and the 
universal doctrines of the Son of God. And who 
can meet this call so truly as a band of men who 
do not come together to utter one cry, but to form 
a communion of free thought; and who only pro- 
pose to work together, in glorious fellowship, for 
ends as broad as the spirit of Jesus, and the needs 
of the world? 

And then, once more, listen to that other call of 
the hour for the universal apphcation of Christian 
truth to human wrongs and sins. These great 
movements of reform appear by no ministry of 
chance. The Eternal Providence is beneath them 
all. Let no man say they are premature, except 
as all annunciations of truth, even from Jesus him- 
self, seem premature, until they shall have won the 
assent of the race. No such grand ideas can be 
born in any human breast, before the fulness of 
time has come. When I hear them distinctly 
proclaimed, they come to me as " the voice of one 
crying in the wilderness." Tell me not that they 
are stem and rude, like the Jewish Prophet's tones. 
Let the spirit of Jesus instantly echo these calls to 
repentance also, in its own heavenly speech. And 
to whom should the world look so confidently, and 
so rightfully, too, for the apostles of these Christian 



28 



reformations, as to men who profess to value no 
opinions, no faith, except what must directly tend 
to the regeneration of the hfe ? Who should be 
foremost in these works of practical righteousness, 
except those who believe that for no other end did 
Jesus plead and die, than to establish this actual 
Kingdom of Heaven in the heart and in the life of 
the race ? 

Here, brethren, is a distinct basis for the hope 
of that union between believing hearts, of which 
Jesus speaks, and men speculate to-day. No out- 
ward machinery can secure it. Men rally around 
common principles. Their hearts throb together 
in broad, common labors, by an irresistible law. 
This is the idea in that promise of Jesus — " And 
I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." I 
have a dream, indeed, of an almost perfect unity, 
which shall at some time come. Many may deem 
it only a dream ; still, at times, I think that in all 
truths which are vital to religion, men may yet 
"see eye to eye." It was a fine conception of 
genius, to imagine the state of things when these 
magnetic wires shall be extended around the globe, 
making the whole earth like the living body with 
its living nerves ; so that men shall be conscious 
everywhere of the throbbing life of every part of 
the wide world, and respond to each other's joy or 
sorrow, feehng or thought. There are such con- 
necting sympathies, ordained of old, in the com- 
mon needs, the common sentiments, of our deeper 
nature. Let us go down to the universal truths 



29 



which they imply and teach, and we shall find 
ourselves linked together in a closer fellowship 
than any wonder of man's invention can establish. 
Certain I am, that, whatever the possibility of such 
Christian union may be, he alone can do any thing 
to secure it, who seeks to recall the world to the 
universal Theology of the living heart, and of the 
soul of Christ. Men will never be drawn away 
from the temples which are built by party or sect, 
until a nobler temple shall be builded. Let " the 
mountain of the house of the Lord be established 
in the top of the mountains," and all nations " shall 
flow unto it" 

Union shall come as a result of this unfolding of 
universal truths. It shall come, also, as a result of 
broad enterprises for the application of Christian 
truth to the sins of the world. It is one of the 
certain tendencies of all wide philanthropies, to 
bind men of differing sects and nations together 
by a holy tie. Out of these wide-spread evils, in 
the fathomless mercy of God, an influence may 
come, which shall tend to estabhsh this bond of 
universal brotherhood. The lovers of peace, of all 
cUmes, unite against the common scourge and 
crime of the world. And lo ! while they labor for 
the overthrow of war, their hearts are knit together 
into a closer fellowship than even Hope had 
dreamed. " Fear not, little flock," — work for 
universal truths, for the regeneration of the world's 
life, and the kingdom shall be given you. You 
shall wield a power that cannot be measured by 



30 



numbered ranks of disciples, but which shall act 
like the invisible attractions of nature, silently 
modifying human thought, and drawing men to- 
gether as the Cross makes them one. To a super- 
ficial judgment, to the eye only, you may seem to 
have a feeble existence. But that is because your 
life is becoming an omnipresent spirit. " God hath 
set a guardian legion very near you," that lives and 
works in the universal aims and the redeeming 
ministries of Heaven ; and " their hosanna roUeth 
over you " for ever. 

Beautiful was the life of one who hath passed 
on before us, into that Heaven of free thought and 
free love in which his spirit had always endeavour- 
ed to dwell. Few human lives have been a better 
type of the two thoughts which we have desired 
to present. Cheerfully he bore the name of a pe- 
culiar, a despised sect ; yet he chiefly communed 
with the universal truths of God's spirit, and the 
soul's wants, and Christ's love, which raised him 
above the trammels of all systems. He labored for 
a Theology which could embrace the world, as the 
God of whom it speaks pours down His enhght- 
ening grace upon all souls. And beautiful it was 
to see how these broad principles carried his sym- 
pathies over all cUmes, to all children of the race. 
It was the complete development of such a life — 
its perfect bloom and flower — that one, who began 
by proclaiming God as a universal Father, should 
offer his last pleading in the world for the brother- 
hood of the slave. What preparation for the heav- 



31 



enly judgment could be more true, than to go up 
thither with words Ungering upon the hps, which 
were inspired by that declaration of Jesus — " Inas- 
much as ye have done it unto one of the least of 
these, ye have done it unto me." Let me thank 
that departed spirit for the words of hfe which it 
spoke to me, and is speaking to me still. Let me 
crave its forgiveness, if I rashly claim its sanction 
for any thoughts of mine. Yet, if I asked any 
human sanction for the expression of this hour, I 
should seek it there. Father of Light ! let the spirit 
of our ascended brother, of all the holy, of Jesus 
himselfj come down to us, now they have gone 
from sight, reveahng to us more of their inward 
life than in the day of their presence, that we 
may follow through their path of fidelit}^, to their 
glorious rest ! 



^ 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: l\/!agnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2006 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 



